Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Taking the train to Seattle for some business (hers) and relaxation (mine), it occurred to me that one of the tests we could use for social health is how many young people per thousand are so disconnected from meaningful relationships and empowering work that they are reduced to seeking status and demanding recognition with a can of spray paint.

16 yo kid has just changed the game

A 16 y.o. kid has created a plug-in for browsers that, when you hover over the name of a member of congress mentioned on any webpage, popups to give you a list of donations made to that congressperson from lobbyists, corporations, etc. Right now it has numbers for 2012 but he's working on getting it to 2014. Yeah, it's a drop in the bucket compared to all of pac money and other shenanigans but if we could just get this kind of transparency started it could have a huge impact on our politics, and one that would be good for all. Too cool.

Oh yeah. The kid's motto? "Some are red, some are blue, ALL are green"! I love this kid!

Colorado teen pregnancies plummet thanks to contraceptives

The decline in births among girls 15 to 19 years old served by the program accounted for three-quarters of the overall decline in the Colorado teen birth rate, the state said in a news release.

That rate has fallen from 37 births per 1,000 girls in 2009 to 22 in 2013, officials said.

The teen abortion rate dropped 35 percent from 2009 to 2012 in those counties where the initiative is in place, Hickenlooper said.

Colorado is saving money thanks to the drop in teen pregnancy: Medicaid costs are lowered by $5.68 for every dollar spent on the contraception program. Because pregnancy, childbirth, and pediatric care are more expensive than IUDs.

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WORD

Communities exist for the health and enjoyment of those who live in them,

not for the convenience of those who drive through them, fly over them, or exploit their real estate for profit.

-- Ted Roszak, "Where the Wasteland Ends"

"Because we don't think about future generations, they will never forget us." (Henrik Tikkanen)

"Forget the damned motor car and build the cities for lovers and friends." (Lewis Mumford)Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay

If you are thinking a year ahead, plant seeds. If you are thinking 10 years ahead, plant a tree. If you are thinking 100 years ahead, educate the people.Heroes are not giant statues framed against a red sky. They are people who say: This is my community, and it’s my responsibility to make it better. (Gov. Tom McCall)

Why This Blog?

Jan 19, 2008: LOVESalem reaches the web, bringing a vitally needed message to Oregon's capital city: We must Oregon-ize to put the needs of people before the needs of cars. This requires that we live our environmental values -- that we LOVE (Live Our Values Environmentally) Salem -- by working to stop the Sprawl Machine.

The Sprawl Machine is a ravenous beast that feeds on green space, close-in neighborhoods, and property taxes and that excretes monstrous, ugly road projects that pollute the air, increase mortality and morbidity, promote climate change, weaken families and neighborhoods, and help weaken the social fabric and civic participation.

The Sprawl Machine works by constantly luring its prey with promises that the problems created by cars can be addressed by doing more of the same -- building more lanes, more bridges, consuming ever more money. In other words, the Sprawl Machine promises that we can keep doing the same thing over and over, while expecting a different result this time.

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